Ukrainian Officer Charged With Complicity In Killing Of Russian Journalists

A Ukrainian military officer who was captured by pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine in June has been indicted in Russia for her alleged complicity in the killing of two Russian journalists.

A spokesman for Russia's Investigative Committee, Vladimir Markin, confirmed on July 9 that Nadiya Savchenko is currently being held at a detention facility in the Russian city of Voronezh.

Two journalists from Russia's State Television and Radio Company, Igor Kornelyuk and Viktor Denisov, were killed by a mortar shell near Ukraine's eastern city of Luhansk on June 17 while covering the Ukrainian Army's offensive against pro-Russian separatists.

Ukraine's Foreign Ministry issued a statement on July 8 demanding Savchenko's immediate release and calling her transfer to Russia "yet another proof that terrorists" are operating in eastern Ukraine in cooperation with Russia's secret services.

"By kidnapping of Ukrainian citizens in our country," the statement said, "the Russian side violates not only all the norms of the international law, but also the basic rules of decency and morality."

The ministry demanded that Moscow bring to justice all those responsible for Savchenko's "illegal trafficking."

Savchenko, 31, a senior lieutenant in the Air Force, has served in Ukraine's armed forces for 10 years.